What Does The Bee Badge Mean On Dodge Chargers And Challengers?
For automotive enthusiasts, the late '60s were among the best times to be alive, with so many iconic muscle cars competing for horsepower dominance, including a number from Dodge that had the "Bee Badge." This designation was present on the Dodge Super Bee, which only lasted from 1968 to 1971, beginning its run as a standalone muscle car based on the Coronet. In its last iteration of the early '70s, the Super Bee was reduced to an option on select Dodge Chargers and included a hood decal bee logo.
A resurgence in 2007, brought the Super Bee back to life as a trim on certain Dodge Charger models for a few years. The bee badge would return on Chargers again in 2012 through 2014, and then finally as a last hurrah in 2023 as part of the company's "Last Call" series. The automaker also built a Challenger Scat Pack 1320 model sold from 2019 through 2023 that featured a bee badge.
What ignited the original Super Bee model (which is one of the rarest Hemi-powered muscle cars ever built) was an attempt to capture an untapped segment of the market during the late '60s. The big industry players of the time like Plymouth, Pontiac, Ford, and Dodge were all trying to grab the attention of younger generations interested in greater power output at more affordable prices.
What features did the Super Bee include?
The first Dodge Super Bee (a 1968 model based on the Coronet) featured an optional 426-cubic inch Hemi V8 with 425 horsepower and 490-pound feet of torque under the hood. In 1971, the era of the mighty muscle car was waning and the Super Bee made the last appearance it would for some time, and it was offered in a 340 cubic-inch small-block Dodge Charger variant. While the automotive community is opinionated when it comes to big-block vs. small-block V8 engines, both models packed a lot of power per cubic inch for the era.
Fortunately, the Super Bee returned in 2007 and was once again an option for the Dodge Charger. The Charger SRT8 Super Bee offers a 6.1-liter Hemi that outputs 425 horsepower with 420-pound feet of torque. A lucky few were able to snag the limited 1,000 models released with "Detonator Yellow" and black paint.
Jaws collectively dropped when Dodge discontinued the Charger and Challenger, making 2023 their final year. However, there are several special edition models that pay homage to the history of both Dodge models, one of them being the 2023 Dodge Charger Super Bee. For this final iteration of the bee badge, this Charger includes the "Plum Crazy" paint color, high-performance drag racing tires that measure nearly 11 inches wide, and a drag racing mode. The final Super Bee offers drivers 485 horsepower and 475-pound feet of torque from its massive 6.4-liter Hemi V8 that takes advantage of a working hood scoop.